Air-heater for internal-combustion engines.



J. R. SCOTT.

AIR HEATER FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES. APPLICATION FILED IAN-2. 1911.

1,276,124. V Emma A112. 20; 1918.

' InvenTor.

Jacob Rqper] cuff mmw Affys.

5 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

JACOB RUPERT SCOTT, OF NORTH WEYMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF TWO- TEN'IIHS TO EDWARD H. KAVAN-AGH AND TWO-TENTHS TO JAMES W. COLGAN, BOTH 0F WEYMOUTH, 'MASSACHUSETTS.

AIR-HEATER FOB INTEBNALCOMBUSTION ENGINES.

Patented Aug. 20, 191 8.

Application filed January 2. 1917. Serial No. 139.993.

To all whom it may concern 1' Be it known that 1, Jason Rcrnnr Soon, a citizen of the United States. and resident 'of North \V'eymouth, county of Norfolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvementin Air-Heaters for Internal- Con'ibustion Engines, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawing, is a specification, like characters on the drawing representing like parts.

This invention relates to improvements in air heaters for internal combustion en gincs and the general object thereof is to provide a simplified means for more effectively vaporizing the liquid fuel, and supply ing the vaporized mixture to' the engine.

A further object of the invention is to provide a fuel supplying and vaporizing device which will obviate the necessity for a complicated and expensive carburetor by vaporizing the fuel by a current of hot air caused to impinge directly upon one or more jets of liquid fuel.

Another ob ect of the invention is to provide a. vaporizing device of the character described in \vhichthe supply of liquid fuel and air \vill'at all times be proportionate to the demand of the engine under all usual running conditions.

A further feature of the invention coinprises a novel means for heating the air in the intake pipe, delivering the heated current of air to the fuel feeding chamber whereby complete vaporization of the fuel will be efieotcd.

Oihcr objects and features of the invention and the nature thereof will more fully appear from the following description and the accompanying drawings and will be particularly pointed out in the annexed claims.

The drawings illustrate my invention as applied to an automobile engine of a usual type, but it is to be understood that the invention may be incorporated in any other suitable type of internal combustion. engine.

In the drawings;

Figure '1 is a side elevation of a conventional six-cylinder automobile engine with my invention applied thereto, 7 Fig. 2 is an end View of the same showing my improved liquid fuel vaporizin device and the air heating means, main y in section,

Fig. .3 is a detail sectional view of a portion. or the air intake and its relation to the exhaust conduit through which the hot products of combustion are discharged from the engine. and.

Fig. r is a vertical sectional view on a larger scale. of the vaporizing or feeding chamber and the exhaust conduit placed in plxtapositionto illustrate more clearly the vaporizing mechanism and the manner in which the air is heated by the products of combustion a11d,dclivcrcd to the same.

In usual types oi internal combustion engines a carhnctcr of more or less complio'atcd and expensive construction is utilized to vaporize the liquid Fuel and to mix the same with the necessary amount of air to produce an explosive charge for the engine,

means usually being provided whereby the operator may regulate the supply of liquid fuel so that a more 'orlcss rich mixture may be supplied to the engine according to its demands. The present invention contemplates the provision of simple autoi-natically operable. means responsiveto the suction of the engine for supplying both the amount of liquid fuel and the amount of air required to form the proper mixtiii'e at each intake stroke of the engine so that the engine may be controlled entirely by the usual throttle valve under all ordinary running conditions.

A preferred embodiment of my invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings as applied to a usual form of six-cylinder automobile engine comprising a crank case 1 having a driving shaft 2 journaled therein and supporting the usual pairs of cylinders 3, l. each cylinder being. of course, provided with a piston connected to the crank sired ignition syste nmay beus'ed, the elecltrio conductors for being comprised;

in the cable 9.

The simplified ains fo rfsnpplying as, explosive mixtur'ejto. the cylinders prefer ably comprises a; tubular casing 10, con

nected at its upper end to the lower end of the downwardly extending trunk 11 of the manifold 7 and having a spray pipe 12 extending through its otherwise closedlower end .13 and having jet apertures located at a distance above said bottom and an air intake conduit 14 leading through its side in proximity to the upper endof the spray pipe 12.

The casing desirably has a. circumferential flange 15 at its upper end which may be secured to a corresponding flange 16 at the lower end of the manifold trunk, and a screen 17 0f finely meshed wire preferably is clamped between the abutting ends of the manifold trunk and casing. The screen 17 serves the double function. of preventing dust or other soiled matter from being drawn into the cylinder and causing the vapor laden air to eddy in the lower part of the casing so that the molecules of vaporized fuel are more intimately mixed with the molecules of oxygen in the air.

The lower end of the casing preferably is contracted to form a boss 18 and is apertured to receive the spray pipe 12. The'; lower part of the aperture is ei'ilarged and its walls'screw threaded to form a stuffing box and a suitable packing is retained tightly therein by a nut it) screwed into the lower end of the boss. The upper end of the spray pipe 12 desirably is closed by a screw plug 220 and is provided with jet apertures 21 just beneath the plug 20, said jet apertures being at a considerable distance from the bottom of the casing. By reason of this construction the lower end of the casing forms a receptacle for any excess ofor to substitute another tube having jct orifiCes of different size for the purpose of correlating the fuel supply to the amount of airtaken in by the suction of the engine.

The supply pipe "25 may extend directly into the reservoir but may conveniently be made in sections connected by an L shaped iinion having a priming cup 27 and the lower end of said pipe is provided with a ball valve 28 and screen 29. Fuel is supplied to the supplemental reservoir 26 through a pipe 30 leading from the main fuel tank 31. which may be located in any mmvcnient portion of the vehicle. 'lt will however be ui'idcrstood that the supplemon.

other 'solid substances.

tal reservoir may be omitted and the fuel I supply pipe 25 connected directly to the pivotally mounted in the upper portion ofthe casing 10. The pivotal axis of said valve is provided with an arm 34 which is operated by the usual lever located in c0nvenient reach of the .op rater.

In the operation of tie machine the suction of the engine draws fine jets, which form a spray, through the orifices 21 in the upper end of the spray pipe 12, the amount of fuel thus delivered being proportionate to the vacuum created by the successive intake strokes of the several pistons, that is, the amount of fuel supplied to the feeding chamber is in exact proportion to the demands of the engine, subject of course to the control of the throttle valve which may be manipulated at pill by the operator.

The air required'to form anexplosive mixture is supplied to the feeding or vaporizing chamber through the intake conduit '14, which, as heretofore stated, leads through the casing 10 in proximity to the upper end of the spray pipe 12. The air intake pipe extends to the exhaust conduit and desirably has a section 35 which passes through a portion of the exhaust conduit and is directly heated by the hot products of combustion.

The exhaust conduit is provided with a longitudinally extending aperture, the marginal walls of which are ,provided with flanges 36 to which are secured flanges 37 on the walls of a hollow casing 38 which forms a heating chamber communicating freely with the exhaust conduit.

The section 35 of the intake pipe extends through the end walls of this heating chamber and the ends of said intake pipe section 35 preferably are connected to mouth pieces 39, the intake ends of which are shaped to conform to the contour of the outside of the exhaust conduit and are located in prox-.

imity thereto.

The open ends of the mouth pieces-are covered with fine gauze to exclude dust and By reason of this r-onstriu-tion the radiation from the exhaust conduit normally .tcndsto direct the dust from the mouth of the intake pipe.

Tn operation the air is drawn by the suction of the engine into the mouth pieces of the intake pipe. and. as the intake openings therein lic ink-lose proximity to the wall of ihc exhaust conduit, is heated to some exmentation gine a valve 41 may if feeding chamber to chamber and is normally hot products of combustion at about a red heat, and is very highly heated. It passes thence into the feeding or vaporizing chamber where it impinges directly upon the spray of liquid fuel which is delivered through the spray jets "J1 and being at such a high temperature quickly vaporizes said fuel and forms with it a perfect mixture as it passes through the screen 17 into the manifold and thence to the cylinders.

The intake pipe lei may be made of such sizefor any particular type of engine that it will deliver the proper amount of: air to vaporize completely the amount of fuel sup plied for any usual running condition, the size of the pipe 1% and the size of the jet apertures being correlattal to the demand of the engine for usual running conditions. I have found that. an engine having a inch exhaust pipe and a heating chamber inches in dian'ieter and twelve inches long with an intake conduit having a di ameter of 1-3 inches delivering to a feeding chamber inches long and Q-Q- inches in I diameter equipped with a spray pipe inch in diameter and having two jet orifiees inch in diameter each will supply a perfect mixture which will drive a forty horsepower seven passenger car at any de sired speed up to fifty miles per hour under the control of the throttle valve above described without manual regulation of the supply of fuel or the air supply.

While intake pipes of different sizes may be necessitated for different types and sizes of engine the proper size pipe may be selected with but a slight amount of experiand the size of the orifices in the fuel pipe to supply the proper amount of liquid may also readily be determined in the same manner.

In order to facilitate starting of the endesired be placed in its pivotal stem 42 prothe air pipe 14 and 43 connected to .a suitvided with an arm able controlling lever venient reach of the operator. In starting the engine this valve may be closed. so that the suction of-the engine, when turned over, will draw a small amount of fuel into the form the initial charges. As soon as the engine has started the valve 41 may be opened, whereupon the supply of air and fuel will automatically respond to the requirements of the engine as aforesaid. If it is desired to supply a richer mixture to the engine than that which is normally delivered by "the intake pipe when fully opened, it may be accomplished by actuating the throttle valve 41 to restrictthe flow of hot air through the air intake pipe.

'When the jet apertures 21 and the air intake pipe'are properly proportioned to deliver the required amount of fuel and air maintained by the (not shown) in con-- to makea perfect mixture there is, of course, no need of manipulating the butterfly valve ii in the air intake pipe and I have also found that there is no necessity for changing the relative proportions of the jet apertures and the air intake pipe for differences of climate, location or altitude, so that the main function of the butterfly valve in the air intake pipe is to facilitate the starting of the engine in the manner above described.

I have found that an engine embodying my invention is far more economical than when equipped with a usual high grade earbureter and that its operation is more uni-v form and certain.

\Vhil'e I have illustrated my invention embodied herein in an automobile engine it will be understoodthat the invention is adapted to'be applied to any usual type of internal combustion engine and that various changes in the form of construction to adapt the same to other types of engines may be made within the scope of the following claims.

Having thus described my invention what 'I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an'internal combustion engine comprising a plurality of cylinders, an intake manifold leading to said cylinders, a mixing chamber comn'iunicating with said manifold and means for supplying liquid fuel to said mixing chamber; an exhaust manifold leading from said cylinders having a lateral exheating tension forming a ing pipe extending through said chamber provided at its end with a bell shaped mouth piece lying close to and conforming to the contour of said manifold, an air intake pipe connecting with said heating pipe and leading to said mixing chamber.

2. In an internal combustion engine com prising a plurality of cylinders, an intake manifold leading to said cylinders, a mixing chamber communicating with said manifold and means for supplying liquid fuel to said mixing chamber; an exhaust manifold leading from said cylinders having a lateral extension forming a heating chamber, a heat ing pipe extending through said "heating chamber and having its endsopen to the atmosphere, an air intake pipe extending into said heating chamber communicating with said heating pipe within saidchambe'r and leading therefrom to said mixing chamber. 3. In an internal combustion engine comprising a plurality of cylinders, an intake manifold leading to said cylinders, a mixing chamber communicating with said mani and means for supplying liquid fuel to said mixing chamber; an exhaust manifold lead ing pipe leading through said chamber in parallelism with said intake manifold. and

chamber, a heatfold no i

provided at both ends with downwardly extending bell shaped mouth pieces'curved to conform to the contour of the manifold and lying closely adjacent thereto and an air lntake pipe extending into said heating chamber connecting centrally with said heating pipe and leading therefrom to said mixin chamber.

i. In an internal combustion engine comprising av plurality of cylinders, an intake manifold leading to said cylinders, a mixing chamber communicating with said manifold and means for supplying liquid fuel to said mixing chamber; an exhaust manifold leadcopier.-

ing from said cylinders having a longitudinal opening therein, a semi-cylindrical casing detaehably secured to said manifold providing an auxiliary heating chamber, a heating pipe extending longitudinally of said heating chamber open at both ends to the atmosphere. an air intake pipe extending into said heating chamber and eommunicating with said heating pipe and leading therefrom to said mixing chamber.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

JACOB RUPERT SCOTT.

a! this patent may be obtained for flv cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Wuhinrton, D. G. 

